HP Names Baylor Alumnus CEO
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HP announced March 29 that its board of directors has named Mark Hurd, a 1979 Baylor University business graduate, to serve as the company's chief executive officer and president.
Hurd, 48, has served since March 2003 as president and chief executive officer of NCR Corp. (NYSE: NCR), where he has spent his 25-year career in a range of general management, operations and sales and marketing positions. Prior to his current responsibilities, he was NCR's president and chief operating officer, responsible for driving the performance of the company's five business units. Previously, Hurd served three years as president and COO of the company's Teradata division, which he built to be a global leader in enterprise data warehousing, analytic applications and data warehousing services.
Hurd earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1979 from Baylor, where he was the number one player on the tennis team. He returned to Baylor in February 2002 as part of the business school's Ben H. Williams Distinguished Speakers Series. Hurd spoke on "Enterprise Decisioning: How Leading Companies Make Decisions in a Turbulent World" at a luncheon attended by Central Texas community leaders and graduate students.
Patricia Dunn, HP's non-executive chairman, said that the HP board unanimously selected Hurd based on his track record leading a complex organization, as well as his strong executive and personal qualities.
"Our search for a new leader to return HP to sustained success has been focused and thorough," Dunn said. "A screening team of board members, consisting of myself, Jay Keyworth and Tom Perkins, established a broad field of candidates and interviewed many individuals. We then recommended the strongest contenders to the board as finalists. Each was interviewed by the entire board, and Mark was our top choice.
"Mark came to our attention because of his strong execution skills, his proven ability to lead top performing teams and his track record in driving shareholder value. He demonstrated these skills by turning around NCR, which, while smaller than HP, is a complex organization with multiple business segments. As we got to know Mark, we were impressed by his emphasis on developing internal talent while reaching outside for new skills, his understanding of the role of culture in a company's success and his personal integrity. Additionally, his straightforward style has won the respect of employees, customers and investors," Dunn added.
"HP is one of the world's great companies, with a proud history of innovation, outstanding talent and enviable positions in many of its product lines and services," Hurd said. "It's a great honor to join its leadership team and have the opportunity to build on its success."
Hurd will take up his new duties on April 1 and join HP's board. He succeeds Robert Wayman, a 36-year company veteran who has been chief financial officer since 1984 and was named interim chief executive officer in February 2005. Wayman, 59, will remain CFO and continue to serve as a member of HP's board.
Hurd previously spent 25 years at NCR Corp., culminating in his two-year tenure as chief executive officer and president. His leadership was marked by successful efforts to improve operating efficiency, bolster the position of NCR's product line and build a strong leadership team. In fiscal 2004, NCR generated revenue of $6.0 billion, up 7 percent from a year earlier, and net income rose nearly fivefold to $290 million.
Hurd was named president of NCR in 2001 and was given additional responsibilities as chief operating officer in 2002. Prior to that, he spent three years as head of the company's Teradata data-warehousing division. Earlier, he held a variety of general management, operations, and sales and marketing roles. Hurd began his career at NCR as a field salesman in 1980.
Hurd is a member of the Computer Systems Policy Project, a coalition of chairmen and chief executive officers of IT companies, which develops and advocates public policy positions on technology and trade issues.